Maggie the Mechanic

Maggie the Mechanic by Jaime Hernández
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Maggie The Mechanic collects material from Love and Rockets #0-15, Mechanics #1-2, Anything Goes #2, Love and Rockets Bonanza, and Ten Years of Love and Rockets.

I've been aware of Love and Rockets for ages but never took the plunge. Fantagraphics was having their winter sale so I picked this up in addition to a lot of other things. Actually, it turns out this isn't my first Love and Rockets experience. I must have Anything Goes #2 in my stash because I remembered the part about Maggie enjoying being spanked with a piece of Hot Wheel track. Anyway, this was great shit.

Jaime Hernandez' art wowed me right out of the gate. It reminded me of Alex Toth and romance comics era John Romita with a small touch of Dan DeCarlo. In short, the guy's art is right in my wheelhouse.

As great as the art is, Jaime Hernandez is an even better writer. The characters of Maggie and Hopey felt like real people at the onset. Maggie is a Prosolar rocket mechanic and has a massive crush on Rand Race, best mechanic there is. Hopey is her friend and sometime lover, member of a punk band and all around bad ass.

There are some science fiction elements, like rockets, robots, and even a couple dinosaurs, but the locas are the center of the book. It's no wonder Jaime decided to kick the science fiction stuff to the curb in later books. The human element was by far the most interesting in the book. Not that the rest wasn't interesting, though. Jaime worked all of his interests into it, like super heroes, wrestling, and punk music.

There is a void in my heart after finishing Maggie the Mechanic. Fortunately, there are still about 40 years of material left to consume. Five out of five rockets.



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